Kinetic
by azazemon
Summary: After being ambushed by strange men in cloaks, Sasuke is put into the care of two wanderers, but there's something strange about them... Please R&R, other Naruto characters inside; pairings inside
1. Chapter 1

Sasuke walked through the snow drenched forest, wanting some alone time to think. As he found a tree and sat near the trunk, a light snow began to fall. He took a deep breath and rested his head against the tree, closing his eyes and letting the tranquil forest take its effect. He suddenly heard footsteps and the unsheathing of swords and quickly opened his eyes. He was surrounded by five men, draped in black robes, their five swords close to Sasuke's neck.

"Filth..."One of them said in a dead voice,"must be destroyed."

Sasuke jumped into the tree as the five attackers lunged at him. He unsheathed his own sword and jumped behind them, running chidori down his blade and charging. They were agile people, moving out of his sword's range and attempting to strike from his blind spots. With Sasuke's sharingan, he saw them coming and avoided their attacks. They seemed to attack as one; when one missed, the strike of the others came dangerously close. Sasuke rolled under the blade of one of them and stabbed the robe. It looked down at him, apparently unaffected by the strike, and raised its sword. Sasuke moved as the blade hit the snow, but was unable to dodge the sword of the other attacker, which grazed his chest, tearing his shirt. In his shock he was stabbed from behind by another, and thrown into a tree. He fell to the ground and was rising when another came and pinned him to the tree by stabbing him on the right side of his chest, barely missing his lung. Sasuke tried to fight back, but felt himself weakening every second.

"What the hell?" He gasped.

The other four walked up and raised their swords, savoring the moment before the kill. One drove his blade into Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke felt his sight wavering; something in the sword was draining his strength. He saw them suddenly raise their cock their heads to his right, and felt the one pinning to the tree remove his sword to defend himself against a new foe. All five jumped back as someone in a hooded brown cloak with a large, jagged, silver claymore that had what appeared to have bulging red lines on it, knock one off his feet with one deft swing. He felt someone else grab him and looked to see someone else in a hooded brown robe. The first visitor had successfully driven off his attackers and was walking over to them. The other was looking intently at his wounds, which bled very little.

"Karada, we should keep moving." The one with sword said. He had a male voice.

"We can't leave him like this Okugi." The other said in a female voice.

Okugi sighed,"Fine, patch him up and I'll carry him."

She began to rummage around in her bag and pulled out a strange plant, a knife, and some bandages. She cut the skin off the leaf to reveal a clear, sticky inside that she pressed against his stomach wound. Sasuke grunted in pain as she quickly applied the bandages and repeated the same process to the other wounds.

"How is it?" Okugi asked.

"Not bad, and certainly not good. They missed his organs, but the poison from their blades will be affecting him for some time." Karada said.

"Lucky you." Okugi told Sasuke, walking over to pick him up. Sasuke's strength left him, and he slumbed over, unconscious.

They walked through the snow covered forest, apparantly sure of where they were going.

"Kinda strange, don't ya think? That they'd attack him?" Karada asked attempting to start a conversation.

"Not really, he might have deserved it." Okugi said dryly,"We should drop him off at the next town and keep going."

"If we do that, then they'll just come to finish him off."

"And?"

"And?! Then why did you just save him?"

"I was bored, needed to stretch some."

"You're horrible." she said laughing,"But still, we can't just leave him, at least not in this state."

"How long until he heals?"

"Give or take a few weeks."

"Wonderful..."

"Well, so long as he's here you can at least be nice."

"Not in my vocabulary. Besides, why would I be nice to him? He's weak."

"He's cute."

"Your taste in men seems to be deteriorating. Let's just drop him off in a hospital in the next town with some random name."

"No, but we need to go into town anyway so I can buy water, bread, and more bandages."

"Goodie, we're coming up on one now."

They emerged from the forest into a village with shops that looked like ski lodges.

"O.K., I'll go to the store, you can take him to the inn so he can warm up. Might as well buy him a coat while I'm at it." Karada said heading towards the store.

"Lucky me, I get to babysit the unconscious cripple." Okugi mumbled.

He headed towards a lodge and saw Sasuke down in a chair in front of the fire. His shirt was torn and dirty, so Okugi took it off and threw it into the fire.

"Don't want you getting an infection."

That action woke Sasuke up, who opened his eyes to a squint. Okugi removed his hood to reveal shoulder-length black hair with bangs that fell over the top of his eyes, which were burgundy. He sighed, looked around, then went to the counter to order something. He stayed there for a moment, Sasuke feeling the warmth of the flames on his frozen body. Karada came back in, covered with snow.

"It's becoming a blizzard out there; there's so much snow I almost got lost on the way." she said giggling and removing her hood. She had long black hair and dark green eyes,"Ask for a room along with your order please." she told Okugi.

She walked over to Sasuke and looked at him, noticing his half opened eyes said,"Oh! You're awake! Wasn't expecting that for another three hours or so. Okugi's getting some hot chocolate to help warm you up some."

"W-where am I?" Sasuke asked weakly.

"This is Heaven's Rest Inn. Don't worry, the people here will make sure no one knows we're here. Do you know why the Royal Guards attacked you?" She asked softly.

"The guys in the black robe? No, they just called me filth and attacked." Sasuke said in weak anger. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach and grunted.

Karada gently rubbed the area around the wound with two fingers, gently pressing and prodding at times. Sasuke felt the pain slowly recede and wondered why. Okugi came back with three cups full of hot cocoa.

"Here, this oughta warm you up more." Karada said opening Sasuke's mouth some so that he could drink it.

"What's wrong with me?"

"It's a poison coated on the swords of the Royal Guards. It's not lethal, but it's a fast working toxin that slows down certain muscles in the body, making it tired and weak. They've stabbed you enough times to put you in a coma, but you're a tough man to break apparently." Karada said taking a sip of her cocoa.

"Apparently not that tough." Okugi interjected jerkily.

Sasuke glared at him and tried to stand up, but to no avail; the poison spread to all his muscles; he was as weak as newborn.

"Don't strain yourself dude, I was only joking." Okugi said laughing.

"How long until I can move again?" Sasuke asked.

"A few weeks, five at the least. Their blades drove deep into your body, miraculously missing any vital organs. You should be able to stand on your own in the morning though. All your body needs right now is rest and some exercise. So," she said getting up,"let's all go get some rest shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Sasuke woke up to a brightly shining sun. He stood up, a small smile on his face that he could at least do that. He heard the door open and Karada walked in carrying a tray with food.

"Morning! Hey, you're looking a little better! I brought you some breakfast: Steamed rice with miso soup and some grilled fish! Made it myself." she said handing him the tray. She went to the closet and pulled out a long brown cloak, like theirs, and threw it on the bed. "Put that on when you're done, it's laced with wool on the inside to keep you warm. Come down when you're done so we can get going." She left Sasuke to his thoughts and his breakfast.

She went downstairs and put on her cloak. Okugi was leaning against the wall, staring out the window at the town.

"I swear you're paranoid Okugi." she laughed sitting down.

"Well, we caught them by surprise last time. Any thoughts of us being dead after that stunt is out of their mind now. It was only five this time, and you know how many of those things can be sent at once." he said giving her a look.

Karada sighed,"I know, but we couldn't just let them kill him."

"We don't know anything about him. That whole thing could be a setup for all we know."

"If it was, we probably wouldn't have made it through the night. You said it yourself that they thought we were dead."

He turned around and looked out the window again.

"Ever since our training, and those swords, we don't really have to worry about surprises like that. Relax, you only live once, and so do chances like this. Don't you like moments where you can do something nice for someone?"

"Yeah, I do like those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass me by."

She rolled her eyes and went back upstairs.

"I'll give him a chance. But any hint of him serving that fucker and I'll put him down faster than gravity." Okugi said, not giving eye contact.

She shook her head and continued upstairs,"The fact that he's trying is good enough." she mumbled to herself.

She opened the door to see Sasuke standing by the window and looking down.

"Does the cloak fit?" she asked.

"Yeah." he said turning around. His bandages had turned from white to brown.

"Time for some new bandages." she said looking at them.

They went downstairs and she had him sit in the chair while she removed the bandages.

"Wow, those plants really draw out the poison." she said observing the bandages.

"Is that brown stuff the poison?" Sasuke asked.

"Yep, and your bandages are halfway soaked in it." she said twirling it in her fingers,"It doesn't affect the skin, but once it enters you body..."she trailed off, knowing he got the point.

She took out a piece of the same plant and cut the skin off the pieces, smaller this time.

"How do those plants draw out the poison?" Sasuke asked.

"They're a special kind of plant that I find near fruit trees. There are chemicals in them that helps the body eliminate diseases and poisons in the form of liquids. So if you swallowed some of this poison, and ate this plant, your pee would be brown."

"Whoa! I don't think that's info I needed to hear!" Okugi said in disgust.

She rolled her eyes,"Oh grow up, you do it too."

She rebandaged him and stood up to stretch,"All mended, and now you can walk."

"What a bonus." Okugi said.

They left the inn and put on their hoods as they left the town and traveled towards the mountains.

"Why is there so much snow here?" Sasuke asked looking at the trees.

"Never really figured that out. We all just got used to it and started dressing warmly." Karada answered.

"Makes traveling a whole lot more pleasant because of the sights." Okugi said looking at the clear blue sky.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked.

"To a town on the side of a mountain. We heard they've been plagued by restless spirits, so we're going there to put them to rest and collect our reward; it's how we make a living. We can't stay in one place too long or they'll come for us. Hard enough trying not to go all out on them." Karada said looking at mountain in the distance.

They took a rest stop.

"I'll go scout ahead to make sure there's nothing waiting for us." Okugi said. He unsheathed the strange looking claymore again and walked on.

Karada sat down on the side of the road in the snow, Sasuke sat next to her.

"That sword, where'd he get it from?"

"To tell you the truth, I haven't a clue. I admit it does look...weird, but it's nonetheless very potent. I've been meaning to ask him that, but other things came up. But the most interesting thing right now is you." she said looking at him.

"Why?"

"It's not everyday we meet a complete stranger who was able to withstand those sword strikes, make it out alive, and be able to walk the next day. Your body's immune system works well with the chemicals in the plant. But I'm no fool about people, there's something different about you. For one thing, and you don't really hide it that well, you're an Uchiha."

"How could you tell?" he asked, intrigued.

"Well, we saw the emblem on your back, and knew that you had to be one of two people: Itachi Uchiha, the man who massacred the Uchiha clan, or Sasuke Uchiha, the sole survivor. Seeing as Itachi is just about...a man...I knew you had to be Sasuke. That and we saw your sharingan before you somewhat passed out. Heh, we do our homework." she smirked.

"That's pretty remarkable." He commented.

"Not to brag, but we're pretty remarkable people, both of us. Too bad we can't show it."

"Why not?"

"Because then they'll find us."

"Who?"

"Are we ready to continue?" Okugi asked waking back.

"Yeah, we should try to get there before nightfall, so we can get some rest." She said standing up.

They journeyed into the mountain as clouds began to form overhead. They were a mile from the village when the wind began to pick up speed.

"Sounds like another blizzard! We should hurry and find an inn!" Karada yelled.

When they arrived at the town they saw people rushing to their homes so they could curl up by the fire. They found an inn and went inside, all three of them shaking the cold from their hands. They purchased a room and headed upstairs, eager to feel the warmth of the fire as well.

"Man, blizzards are murder up here in the mountain." Karada said removing her cloak. She wore a white spaghetti strap shirt with white pants and sandles. Sasuke removed his cloak and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Okugi set his cloak on the back of a chair and walked towards the window. He wore a mail top and furry black pants with black boots.

"Tomorrow's a big day." he said staring out the window.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because along with us taking care of those wraiths, we're hoping to find some answers on how to destroy the Royal Guards, information that this town holds." Karada said plopping down on the bed and going to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke woke up first the next morning. He sat up and saw Okugi leaning against the wall, fast asleep. Karada lay with her back to him on the far end of the bed. He walked towards the window and looked outside. The mountain sky was cloudy, and he could hear the wind through the glass.

"This wind'll help us track them better." he heard Okugi say.

"How?"

"We're hunting ghosts, but they have to stay near their bodies in order to haunt something. The decaying scent of flesh will be carried through the wind to us, so we'll know when we're close."

"How do you hunt a ghost?"

"Well for starters, you need to know when they're near. When they're close the temperature will drop dramatically, about 10 degrees. Then there's the attacking, which is why they try to appear so scary, fear. A ghost isn't physical, so they need that belief in their power to actually affect the physical world. If you're not scared of them at all, all they can do is look at you and attempt to get some sort of fear in your heart; all they need is a hint of it."

"How do you plan to capture or destroy them?"

"Karada takes care of that part, she's the expert on that. I'm just there to make sure she's isn't attacked by a wraith or phantom."

"What's the difference?"

"Well a phantom is a territorial ghost, and can hurt the living regardless if they're scared or not. So long as we don't enter their territories, we have nothing to worry about. Wraiths however, are the most dangerous. They're usually nothing but emotions left over after a tragic death, like a betrayal or suicide, and they attack anything they see. They wander around the area, looking to only kill any physical thing they come into contact with. Both lie between the world of the living and the dead, so to an extent their physical. They're only harmed by someone stronger than they are, either physical or spiritual, but you don't destroy them, even if that's what it looks like. All that happens is that you disrupt their bodies, causing them to disappear for a long time. They come back though."

Karada rolled over and off the bed, immediately getting back up, full of energy.

"Hey, you guys are up already. Well at least now we can get started on today's agenda." she said putting her cloak on.

They left the inn and went up the road to the town graveyard. A sickly looking old man was waiting for them there.

"So, you three are the ones who are gonna clean out this place. Well, more power to ya, these spirits have become more violent by the day. We can't even have funerals in there without the spirit of the deceased rising up and attacking everyone." he sighed,"I can't even go back to my house; it's crawling with spirits."

"Don't worry, we'll fix your house and the graveyard so you can go back to your...life and people can have their funerals again." Karada said walking in. She noticed a red line connecting from one part of the gate to another, but dismissed it as rust.

They went up the path towards the house and stopped. The house was two stories and looked incredibly old.

"Hard to believe someone would want to live in this place." Okugi said as they walked up to it. He took a step on the front porch, it shattered and fell to pieces.

"Well that was somewhat unexpected." Karada said examining the rubble,"Man, this wood is hundreds of years old. This house should be rubble by now."

"Then how does that sickly old man live here?" Sasuke asked.

"As thin as he is he's probably weightless in this old thing." Okugi said.

"Well, we're not going in there, so let's go check out the graves. He did say the recently dead like to come out and attack people." Karada said.

As they walked up the road they came upon the graves, and the temperature dropped.

"Looks like we have some company nearby." Okugi said unsheathing his sword.

Sasuke looked around and stopped. Pale and transparent, the ghost of a full grown man was pacing back and forth past a grave stone. He was holding a tattered cloak in his left hand.

"Whoa." he whispered.

"Yeah, that's what I said the first time I saw one." Karada said looking at him.

"Wait...something's not right." Okugi said looking at all the other apparitions.

"Now that you mention it...these are pretty peaceful." Karada said.

"What's wrong with that?" Sasuke asked.

"There are nothing but ghosts here, but these ghosts don't attack. There's only one reason for that." Okugi said.

"The people who've killed them are still nearby." Karada said.

"So we're basically nothing to them?" Sasuke asked.

"So long as the one they want vengeance on is still alive, no other person matters. If that person, or persons die, then that's when they become wraiths or phantoms." Okugi said, looking at the headstones.

Slowly, Sasuke walked up to the headstone. The ghost seemed to not even notice his presence as it walked back and forth. Sasuke observed the stone, read it, then read it again.

"Hey, I think that sickly old man got the date for this grave wrong." he said.

Okugi and Karada read the headstone, then read again. They both exchanged looks and stood up.

"This doesn't look good." Karada said.

"What's wrong?"

Okugi read the rest the headstones,"The others have died either around the same time as this guy, or sometime later. These deaths span from 200 to 50 years ago."

"200 years, shouldn't the people who killed them have died already?" Sasuke asked.

"That's what's so troubling. If these deaths are from 200 or so years ago, and these ghosts still walk as though whatever killed them is still alive..." Karada trailed off.

"Shit! We need to get out of here!" Okugi said.

"What for? What's going on?" Sasuke asked.

"These people weren't killed by people. This was all a trap." Karada said grabbing Sasuke by the arm and following Okugi.

"This town is a cult. The job offer was just bait. They're planning to sacrifice us." Okugi said slashing through overgrown plants.

"How?" Sasuke asked.

Karada remembered the red line at the gate,"Of course! How could I be so stupid! That red line I saw at the gates, it wasn't rust, it completed the ritual circle."

"So we're trapped in here?" Okugi asked stopping.

"I don't think-"She trailed off, looking behind him with wide eyes.

Sasuke looked behind him and felt his chest tighten.

Okugi turned around,"Whoa..."

Walking towards them, slowly, was a thin seven foot something hunched over. It's arms were long and clawed as it dragged them across the floor. Its skin was blue, its eyes were white and bright. They could see a mouthfull of sharp teeth as it walked up to them.

"What the hell is that?" Okugi asked.

"It's a Wendigo wraith..."She breathed.

"Wraith?"

"Yeah. I guess it died long ago and was able to haunt this area. The town folk probably sacrifice people on a daily basis to keep it from coming into the town and killing them."

Sasuke remembered the ghost with the cloak,"That explains why some of the ghosts looked like travelers."

"Exactly."

"So what do we do?" Okugi said.

"There has to be a hole in this place somewhere. From the way the chalk resembled rust, I know they made this circle a long time ago. I think parts of the walls might have fallen apart by now." Karada said.

"Doesn't look like now's the moment to start searching." Okugi said.

"Now's the perfect time." she objected.

"How?"

"Hold it off while Sasuke and I search for a hole. The minute we find one we'll call for you." Karada said, grabbing Sasuke's arm and running.

The wendigo watched them run, but turned its attention to Okugi, who held his sword in front of him.

"Alright you linky son of a bitch, let's party!"

Sasuke and Karada found and wall and began pushing at various parts to find an opening.

"Can he take it by himself?" Sasuke asked.

"If it was living he could kill it, so he's fine. All he has to do however is distract it so we can find a way out of here."

"How do we know when we've found a hole?" Sasuke asked.

"If we hit or push a wall and it falls apart, or if we find a hole in the wall, we just make it larger." she answered kicking a stone that didn't budge.

Okugi rolled to the side as the Wendigo lunged at him. As soon as it landed it jumped sideways towards him, narrowly missing him. Okugi swung his sword up, missing the beast but letting the weight of the sword flip him back, and out of the wendigo's next attack. In one bound the wendigo was in his face. Okugi put the sword in front of him and twisted it so that the broad side showed. The wendigo smashed into it and knocked Okugi off his feet. He got up quickly and moved as the wendigo's claw dug into the space her was just in.

Their search for a hole came up with no results.

"I'd keep searching, but I don't want to get too far away from Okugi." she said.

Then an idea sprung into Sasuke's mind, why didn't he think of this before? He unsheathed his sword and ran the chidori through it.

"What the-"

He slice at a wall and it fell down, much to the shock of Karada.

"There, a hole." he smirked.

Okugi sliced a headstone off the ground and threw it at the leaping Wendigo. He hit it point blank in the face and the stone fell on top of it. He sliced a couple more and slammed on it. The stones were heavy, so the wendigo wraith struggled to get out of it.

"Okugi! C'mon! We've found a hole!" Karada yelled.

Okugi ran towards her as the wendigo burst from the pile of stones. One stone flew past Okugi and would've hit Karada had Sasuke not snatched her out the way.

"I guess that poison's wearin off pretty quick." Okugi said standing over them.

He suddenly turned around as the wendigo, teeth and claws beared, was one second from sinking them into him. Without warning it was knocked away by a burst of flames that appeared in front of Okugi. Karada leaped up and grabbed Sasuke,"We need to get going."

As they ran through the hole they saw the townspeople, pitchforks and swords raised, coming their way. They stopped when the wendigo walked out of the whole, looked at Sasuke, Karada and Okugi, then looked at the townspeople. It opened its mouth and have a bone chilling howl before chasing after the scared townsfolk. Not concerned with seeing the results, Karada grabbed Sasuke's arm and kept running.

"Why are we running all of a sudden?" He asked.

"Remember when I told you we can't use our abilities or they'll find us? Okugi just did." she added a glare towards Okugi.

"If I didn't we'd be wendigo kibble right now." he shot back.

"So wouldn't they know that we're running?" Sasuke asked.

"No, they know only what happened the minute we use it, so they know where we were, and that we were fighting a wendigo, that you're with us, and what squad of Royal Guards is near." Karada said.

"So where are we running to?"

"Away from the mountain and into the forest below." she said.

After an hour of descent, they reached the base of the mountain, but kept on running. Sasuke recognized this region, he knew what was near.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked.

"Yeah, this is the Land of Fire. We know there's a village near here, but we'll head towards it tomorrow. Today we'll rest in the forest." Karada said stopping.

Both she and Okugi were oblivious to Sasuke's past history with Konoha. He wondered what they're reaction would be when they got there.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Okugi woke up first. He wanted to get a good intel on their surroundings and scouted the area. Karada woke up, Sasuke several seconds after her. She stretched,"Ah! Morning!" she said brightly.

He didn't answer, his mind was still on what he saw Okugi do yesterday.

"Karada...just what are you and Okugi?"

She sighed,"I thought it was a matter of time before one of us told you. I guess I should tell you about our...specialness. We were experiments of our country, codenamed PROJECT ANGEL. It was designed to make the perfect warriors. Okugi was selected to become one of the best, and so his childhood was nothing but survival tests...and modifications."

"What kind of modifications?"

"Ones that made him so strong. Along with being inhumanly strong, fast and smart, he's also pyrokinetic, telekinetic, and geokinetic. They purposely gave him these three because they can compliment each other so well. If he burns a boulder he can turn it into a diamond, shatter it, then throw the shards. But that's not all. He was also taught ways to manipulate energy and manifest it into other things, like beams, or even augment things to point where they explode from overcharge. To ensure he became the ultimate fighting tool, they looked through all kinds of ancient books for relics that would help, and found the eight seals. The eight seals augment his body and is the reason for his inhuman nature. For me, I was designed to be the perfect healer. My youth was filled with books upon books of different plants and methods to heal even the most serious wounds. I was trained on how to manipulate the cells of the body, or even those of plants, to multiply so the wound would heal faster, or grow. I can also reverse that, causing the body to fall apart. However, they found us dangerous if we were to ever escape, so they used some mental trick on us so that whenever we did use our abilities, they'd know where we are and what we're doing at that exact moment."

"Wait...you said it was a mental trick?"

"Yeah, some kind of trick in our mind that we can't get rid of."

A thought came into Sasuke's mind. He grabbed her by the shoulders,"Hey! What are you-"

"Hold still." He said turning on his sharingan.

"What the-" she didn't get to finish her sentence.

Sasuke knew a ninja must've cast a powerful genjutsu on them, but not so strong that he couldn't dispel it. He found it, in the corner of her mind, a kind of hypnosis that a psychic must've placed on them. It was stronger than he thought, but in the end he succeeded. He let go of her,"There." he said.

"I don't feel any different." she said.

"Use your power."

"What?! No!"

"Trust me and use it."

She hesitated, and picked an acorn out of a tree. She looked at him again, apparently frightened of the outcome, then took a deep breath. Sasuke saw a small vine break out of the acorn and grow up, then Karada dropped it.

"I-I didn't feel it..." she sounded baffled.

"Feel what?"

"Usually when we use our powers...we feel their eyes on us. This time...I didn't feel anything. What did you do?"

"It was genjutsu they used on both of you, a powerful one; but it wasn't strong enough for me to dispel." Sasuke said.

"Oh Thank you!" She said giving him a hug,"Thank you thank you thank you! We have to get Okugi! He'll be so stoked!"

"About what?" Okugi said walking up.

Karada whirled around, her hair smacking Sasuke in the face,"Okugi! Sasuke can take off the mental trick those guys used on us to track us by our powers!" She said excitedly.

"Impossible."he sounded skeptical.

"No, I'm serious! He did it on me, I was able to accelerate the growth of an acorn, but I didn't feel like I was being watched all of a sudden. Sit so he can do on you, you'll see!"

He knew she wouldn't advise it if she even had a hint that it didn't work, so he sat down in front of him.

Sasuke grabbed him by the shoulders and looked at them. They both found it hard to keep eye contact, the situation they were in was awkward. Sasuke found the same type of genjutsu trick in his mind as well, and was once again successful in removing it from his mind as well. He let go of Okugi, who just like Karada, didn't feel any different. It wasn't until he burned that same acorn, much to the displeasure of Karada, that he was convinced of his freedom. Overcome with joy, picked Sasuke up in a hug, laughing like a madman the whole time. When he finally calmed down, he realized what he was doing and put Sasuke down.

"We should keep going." he said, ignoring their stares.

"What's the rush?" They heard someone say.

They all turned around to see Kakashi standing on a branch.

"Good, a spy. Now that we're free I've been itching for a fight." Okugi smirked.

"Relax, I'm not here to fight. I find it strange for you to be traveling with this kind of company though, Sasuke."

Both Karada and Okugi looked at Sasuke,"You know this guy Sasuke?" Karada asked.

"He should, he used to live in Konoha." Kakashi said.

"That's actually where we're heading." Okugi said, now looking at Kakashi.

"Well, I'm afraid Sasuke'll have to remain behind when you guys leave."

"What? Why?" Karada asked.

"I'll explain it on the way, but let's go, there are some unfriendly looking characters in this area." Kakashi said.

"Did they have on black robes that hid their faces?" Karada said.

"Actually they did-"

"Let's go!" she said dashing off.

They reached the city gates, Sasuke secretly wishing something would take him from it. Their arrival was met with an awkward silence, by the rest of Team Kakashi. Okugi and Karada looked back and forth at them, somewhat lost on the situation. After what they both considered too long Okugi spoke up,"Um, can we get this moving, we have schedule to keep."

They all walked into the village, Naruto and Sakura looking straight ahead, the situation before them was serious; Sasuke was back. Karada looked at Sasuke, who looked almost sick, she assumed something happened between him and these people that caused him to run away. They were taken into a room, Tsuanade and the elders stood waiting. Apparently word had reached them of Sasuke's return. They closed the door,"Sit."

"I'd rather stand." Okugi and Sasuke said in unison.

"So Sasuke, you've finally come back." Tsunade said.

"Believe us, if we knew he didn't want to come back here, we would've went somewhere else." Okugi said.

"If I were you, I'd shut my mouth." Ibiki said stepping out of the shadows.

"Noted, now be a good little peon and step back into the shadows."

"Young man, we haven't showed shred of hostility to you, why have you shown it to us?" Koharu asked.

"Because, you all look at him the same way. It's a look only people who don't have good intentions give." he snarled.

"You're starting to sound like Naruto." Tsunade said.

"Who?"

"The boy behind you."

He turned around to see the blonde haired boy looking at him, but he wasn't concerned with him.

"Either way, we'll get what we came here for and be on our way." he said.

"Unfortunately, Sasuke will stay here." Homura said.

"Says who?"

"We say what goes on here." Koharu said.

"You and what army?"

ANBU ninja dropped from the shadows and surrounded them.

"Is this big enough for you?" Tsunade asked.

Okugi laughed,"Please, I've fought worse." he said.

"Who are you?" Tsunade asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Okugi asked.

"You're so defensive..."Karada sighed.

"They haven't given me a reason not to. For one thing, they haven't told us why they want to keep Sasuke here."

"We don't owe you any explanations." Homura said.

"Well until I get one," Okgugi said unsheathing his sword,"You can't have him." His were slowly consumed with fire,"And I'm willing to burn every single one of you if it means we leave here with him."

Karada was stunned, she had never seen him act so protective of someone other than herself. At the same time she was grateful, he went through with his word of giving Sasuke a chance.

"Listen kid, we don't want to hurt you, but we will." an ANBU ninja said.

"I don't even think you guys can scratch your ass at this point." he smirked.

Everyone in the room realized what he was talking about, and tried furiously to move.

"Alright, time to go!" He told Sasuke and Karada, who both obeyed and exited the room.

"When we get a certain distance, I'll lose my grip on them." he said as they ran out the building.

"Then you might want to prepare for a fight." Sasuke told him.


	5. Chapter 5

After a moment of silence everyone was freed from Okugi's telekinetic grip.

"After them, Sasuke mustn't be allowed to leave the village!" Homura yelled. The ANBU ninja disappeared, along with Team Kakashi.

"We'll have to be careful, that boy isn't someone to be taken lightly." Yamato said.

Okugi, Karada and Sasuke were at the gate when they were once again surrounded. The ANBU quickly attacked, seeing that it was best to incapacitate Okugi before he held them in place again.

"Idiots." Okugi smiled. The leaping ANBU were all thrown back by his telekinesis,"Man did I miss doing this-"

He couldn't move. He looked down at his shadow to see it extending to a guy with a ponytail.

"Karada, can't move." he said.

Karada noticed this and presses her hands on the dirt. The earth beneath Shikamaru shattered and his hold over Okugi was released. Okugi stomped on the ground and pushed his hands forward, causing the earth beneath Sasuke, Karada and himself to propel them out the gates and on the road. Okugi and Sasuke looked back, swords out, ready for a fight. Karada however, looked behind them and backed up into Okugi.

"Karada what-" he trailed off, his draw dropped.

They both stared at nine Royal guards, spread out on the road.

"But how did they find us?" Karada asked.

"They're doing it already?" Okugi said.

"What?" Karada and Sasuke said in unison.

"I'll explain once we get rid of these guys." Okugi said charging at them.

"The poison isn't out yet, but enough of it is if you think you can handle them." Karada told Sasuke.

"Do you think he'll be fine by himself?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, but whatever he said they're already doing puts me at some discomfort." she said.

Sasuke charged, wanting to pay back the robed men for jumping him earlier. He stopped, he remembered what happened the last time he fought one, how they fought as one, and when he stabbed it, it wasn't affected by it. He decided to watch Okugi and see what he did, and act from there. The Konoha ninja charged, but were stopped by vines that wrapped around their feet from Karada,"Wait, you guys don't even know how to kill them." she said,"watch."

Okugi ducked and dodged their blows, moving around them, causing them to almost hit each other. They began to get the upperhand, making him work more to ensure he wasn't struck. He stabbed one in the chest, where the heart would be, and quickly pulled out and rolled to the side as three swung at him. The one he stabbed moved incredibly slow, it's attacks taking minutes to do. Okugi stabbed another in the head, pulled out his sword, and jumped back. The one who was stabbed in the head began to attack in a frantic manner, swinging at everything that came near it. It stabbed the slow one in the stomach, and it didn't move from then on, only watched the battle, paralyzed. Okugi chose that time to stab it in the head and jump over it. The unlucky guard dropped its sword and looked up in the air, screeching. Black smoke seeped from the open ends of the robe as it sunk to the floor. As strange as it was, everyone was now sure how to take those things down: stabbing the heart, stomach, and brain. They snuck up on the guards, who were still attempting to pin down the ever agile Okugi, who was beginning to slow down due to the weight of his large claymore. He narrowly missed a strike to his feet, but fell on the ground. Another closed in to finish the job and stopped, Sasuke's sword emerging from its chest. The other guards now turned their attention on Sasuke, forgetting completely about Okugi. The other ninja struck, surprising and baffling the supernatural guards. They have shrieks of surprise as they were covered with shuriken and kunai that hit them in various place. Of the nine guards that attacked, only two were able to escape, gliding on the ground and then into the trees, their screeches echoing through the trees.

Sasuke helped Okugi to his feet,"Well, looked like you showed them a thing or two." he said dusting himself off.

"What did you mean by them doing it already?" Sasuke asked him.

Okugi sighed,"Before I left, I remembered that the country wanted to expand, and planned to do so by sending out scouts. Nine guards would travel to different towns and villages to see what their strengths and weaknesses were, and from that they would send their armies to burn it to the ground."

"So what do you think will happen with this village?" Karada asked in front of the ninja closing in.

"Not sure, they might think they're protecting us, and send something worse. That's why I didn't want Sasuke staying here." He said loudly.

"You might not want him to stay, but we have laws that we do have to follow." An ANBU ninja said.

"Well, I don't live here, so your laws mean basically shit to me. If Sasuke stays here, then he'll send things worse than these guys, things that aren't human." Okugi said darkly.

"Who is this he?" Kakashi asked.

"He likes to go by the name "Grand Emperor", other than that, I don't know his real name. He's a tyrant, always looking for way to expand his territory and oppress more people. Karada and I were his latest experiments that escaped. He tracked us for some time, before we faked our death. But like I said before, he plans to burn villages like yours to the ground, so that no one will oppose him when he goes through with his conquest." Okugi said.

"And how do you two, or three, plan to stop him?" Kakashi asked.

"We're part of an underground rebel group who want to take him down. Right now, we're heading to the towns with members there that can help us formulate a plan to infiltrate the castle and take him down. The hard part is the guards, I can handle the Grand Emperor by myself." Okugi said.

"That seems like a good plan." Tsunade said walking up,"I think we should let them go through with it."

"But, Lady Hokage, what about Sasuke?" an ANBU asked.

"He said if Sasuke stays here, then the village will be in danger, and apparently they can handle these guys by themselves. But just to be on the safe side, I'm going to assign some of my own men to help you out, if that's alright with you." she said.

"Splendid!" Karada said briskly.

"The more the merrier..."Okugi said dully.

Sasuke stayed silent.

"Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Lee, I want you all to accompany them and do whatever they tell you. Am I clear?" Tsuanade said.

The nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Well let's get going, I want to be in the next town by nightfall." Okugi said.

"Shouldn't we get some things first?" Hinata asked.

"No! We want to make sure we stay inconspicuous. If you need to bring any extra weapons then do so; if not then let's go." Karada said.

Somewhat confused on their strange method of traveling, they went with them. Okugi and Karada sighed, these recent event set them back a couple of days, but they didn't mind, it was interesting. The journey to the next town was quiet, the atmosphere around them all was very tense.

"When we get to this next village, we have to make sure we get some new apparel." Okugi said.

"How come?" Naruto asked.

"Those two guards who escaped, know what we were wearing, so it's time to change." Okugi said.

"What look will we be going for this time?" Karada asked.

"Kimonos this time, we'll blend in nicely with the towns we visit from here on out. Also, you guys have to loose the headbands."

Shikamaru sighed,"Man...this is gonna be one looong trip."


End file.
